AHM-530 Sample Questions Answers

Dr. Leona Koenig removed the appendix of a plan member of the Helium health plan. In order to increase the level of reimbursement that she would receive from Helium, Dr. Koenig submitted to the health plan separate charges for the preoperative physical examination, the surgical procedure, and postoperative care. All of these charges should have been included in the code for the surgical procedure itself. Dr. Koenig's submission is a misuse of the coding system used by health plans and is an example of:

Social health maintenance organizations (SHMOs) and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) are federal programs designed to provide coordinated healthcare services to the elderly. Unlike PACE, SHMOs

The provider contract that the Canyon health plan has with Dr. Nicole Enberg specifies that she cannot sue or file any claims against a Canyon plan member for covered services, even if Canyon becomes insolvent or fails to meet its financial obligations. The contract also specifies that Canyon will compensate her under a typical discounted fee-for-service (DFFS) payment system.

During its recredentialing of Dr. Enberg, Canyon developed a report that helped the health plan determine how well she met Canyon's standards. The report included cumulative performance data for Dr. Enberg and encompassed all measurable aspects of her performance. This report included such information as the number of hospital admissions Dr. Enberg had and the number of referrals she made outside of Canyon's provider network during a specified period. Canyon also used process measures, structural measures, and outcomes measures to evaluate Dr. Enberg's performance.

Canyon used a process measure to evaluate the performance of Dr. Enberg when it evaluated whether:

The actual number of providers included in a provider network can be based on staffing ratios. One true statement about staffing ratios is that, typically:

The Portway Hospital is qualified to receive Medicaid subsidy payments as a disproportionate share hospital (DHS). The DHS payments that Portway receives are

The provider contract that Dr. Lorena Chau has with the Fiesta Health Plan includes an evergreen clause. The purpose of this clause is to:

A health plan that delegates designated credentialing activities to an NCQA-centered or a Commission/URAC-centered credentials verification organization (CVO) is exempt from the due-diligence oversight requirements specified in the NCQA credentialing standards for all verification services for which the CVO has been certified:

The provider contract that Dr. Nick Mancini has with the Utopia Health Plan includes a clause that requires Utopia to reimburse Dr. Mancini on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis until 100 Utopia members have selected him as their primary care provider (PCP). At that time, Utopia will begin reimbursing him under a capitated arrangement. This clause in Dr. Mancini's provider contract is known as:

The following statement(s) can correctly be made about contracting and reimbursement of specialty care physicians (SCPs):

The following statements describe two types of HMOs:

The Elm HMO requires its members to select a PCP but allows the members to go to any other provider on its panel without a referral from the PCP.

The Treble HMO does not require its members to select a PCP. Treble allows its members to go to any doctor, healthcare professional, or facility that is on its panel without a referral from a primary care doctor. However, care outside of Treble's network is not reimbursed unless the provider obtains advance approval from the HMO.

Both HMOs use delegation to transfer certain functions to other organizations. Following the guidelines established by the NCQA, Elm delegated its credentialing activities to the Newnan Group, and the agreement between Elm and Newnan lists the responsibilities of both parties under the agreement. Treble delegated utilization management (UM) to an IPA. The IPA then transferred the authority for case management to the Quest Group, an organization that specializes in case management.

Both HMOs also offer pharmacy benefits. Elm calculates its drug costs according to a pricing system that requires establishing a purchasing profile for each pharmacy and basing reimbursement on the profile. Treble and the Manor Pharmaceutical Group have an arrangement that requires the use of a typical maximum allowable cost (MAC) pricing system to calculate generic drug costs under Treble's pharmacy program. The following statements describe generic drugs prescribed for Treble plan members who are covered by Treble's pharmacy benefits:

The MAC list for Drug A specifies a cost of 12 cents per tablet, but Manor pays 14 cents per tablet for this drug.

The MAC list for Drug B specifies a cost of 7 cents per tablet, but Manor pays 5 cents per tablet for this drug.

The following statements can correctly be made about the reimbursement for Drugs A and B under the MAC pricing system:

The vision benefits offered by the Omni Health Plan include clinical eye care only. The following statements describe vision care received by Omni plan members:

• Brian Pollard received treatment for a torn retina he suffered as a result of an accident

• Angelica Herrera received a general eye examination to test her vision

• Megan Holtz received medical services for glaucoma

Of these medical services, the ones that most likely would be covered by Omni's vision coverage would be the services received by:

A provider group purchased from an insurer individual stop-loss coverage for primary and specialty care services with an $8,000 attachment point and 10% coinsurance. If the group's accrued cost for the primary and specialty care treatment of one patient is $10,000, then the amount that the insurer would be responsible for reimbursing the provider group for these costs is:

As an authorized Medicare+Choice plan, the Brightwell HMO must satisfy CMS requirements regulating access to covered services. In order to ensure that its network provides adequate access, Brightwell must

An health plan’s contract negotiation team consists of several skilled individuals from different areas. At least one of the members is responsible for evaluating the wording of specific clauses to ensure that the health plan’s rights are protected, as well as to ensure that the contract is in compliance with state and federal regulation. By profession, this member of the contract negotiation team is typically

The method of pharmaceutical reimbursement under which a plan member obtains prescription drugs from participating network pharmacies by presenting proper identification and paying a specified copayment is the

If the Oconee Health Plan reimburses its specialty care physicians (SCPs) under a typical retainer method, then Oconee pays SCPs

Although a health plan is allowed to delegate many activities to outside sources, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has determined that some activities are not delegable.

These activities include

The Gardenia Health Plan has a national reputation for quality care. When Gardenia entered a new market, it established a preferred provider organization (PPO), a health maintenance organization (HMO), and a point-of-service product (POS) to serve the plan members in this market. All of the providers included in the HMO or the POS are included in the broader provider panel of the PPO. The POS will be a typical two-level POS that offers a cost-based incentive plans for PCPs, and the HMO is a typical staff model HMO.

The following statement(s) can correctly be made about Gardenia’s establishment of the PPO and the staff model HMO in its new market:

1. When establishing its PPO network, Gardenia most likely initiated outcomes measurement tools and developed collaborative process improvement relationships with providers.

2. To avoid high overhead expenses in the early stages of market evelopment, Gardenia’s HMO most likely contracted with specialists and ancillary providers until the plan’s membership grew to a sufficient level to justify employing these specialists.

In most health plan pharmacy networks, the cost component of the reimbursement formula is based on the average wholesale price (AWP). One true statement about the AWP for prescription drugs is that

In contracting with providers, a health plan can use a closed panel or open panel approach. One statement that can correctly be made about an open panel health plan is that the participating providers

The sizes of the businesses in a market affect the types of health programs that are likely to be purchased. Compared to smaller employers (those with fewer than 100 employees), larger employers (those with more than 1,000 employees) are

The Gardenia Health Plan has a national reputation for quality care. When Gardenia entered a new market, it established a preferred provider organization (PPO), a health maintenance organization (HMO), and a point-of-service product (POS) to serve the plan members in this market. All of the providers included in the HMO or the POS are included in the broader provider panel of the PPO. The POS will be a typical two-level POS that offers a cost-based incentive plans for PCPs, and the HMO is a typical staff model HMO.

One statement that can correctly be made about Gardenia’s two-level POS product is that

Jay Mercer is covered under his health plan’s vision care plan, which includes coverage for clinical eye care but not for routine eye care. Recently, Mr. Mercer had a general eye examination and got a prescription for corrective lenses. Mr. Mercer’s vision care plan will cover.

The following statements are about the specialist component of a provider panel. Select the answer choice containing the correct statement.

The Aegean Health Plan delegated its utilization management (UM) program to the Silhouette IPA. Silhouette, in turn, transferred authority for case management to Brandon Health Services. In this situation, Brandon is best described as the

Determine whether the following statement is true or false:

The NCQA has established a Physician Organization Certification (POC) program for the purpose of certifying medical groups and independent practice associations for delegation of certain NCQA standards, including data collection and verification for credentialing and recredentialing.

The following statements are about the negotiation process of provider contracting. Three of the statements are true and one of the statements is false. Select the answer choice containing the FALSE statement.